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Wednesday, 22 August 2018

Tips to Reduce Cost of Living (PM Lee's & SG Budget Babe's version)

PM Lee shared some tips during his NDP Rally Speech this year (2018). While I applaud the government for some of their initiatives - Medishield Life and CareShield - which I find are fantastic improvements, many of the tips that our dear PM shared didn't seem to be particularly useful for middle-income households like mine.

Here's a summary of PM Lee's tips:

To save money on utilities:

Be mindful of water and electricity usage

For lower income families, U-Save rebates are provided to help offset some of the costs

To save on mobile phone expenses:

Watch your data usage and download using home Wi-Fi instead of 4G

Tap on Wireless@SG when it is available outside

To save on infant milk formula

Breastfeed

All infant formulas sold in Singapore meets the nutritional needs of the children and brands should not matter

For cheaper food options

Look for economical options. Stalls in new hawker centres will offer one option priced at $3 or less.

While all these tips are fine and dandy, I can't help but feel many of these are quite...redundant? It is either stuff that we already know, or oversimplified such that it doesn't address other costs involved. And all that talk about households having only had one land line ($8 / month) vs. today where every family member owns a smartphone was quite redundant, because it isn't as though we can go back to living like a dinosaur!

Since I belong to the middle-income household range (where CHAS and other subsidies don't really help us much), we need to find other ways to cut down on expenses and cope with costs of living instead.

MyRepublic currently offers the best deal, where $35 gets you 7GB and unlimited talktime every month. If you're signing up with their broadband, you get another 3GB on top of the 7GB!

Don't go for the newest phone models, which typically are hyped up and cost a lot more. See if you can buy off Carousell instead, or get an older model from an Ah Beng mobile phone shop.

Want an iPhone? Then be prepared to fork out over $1000 for it, in which case you're not entitled to complain about how expensive mobile phones are anymore, since you made the choice to go for a more expensive option.

To save on infant milk formula

Breastfeeding is great, but PM Lee seems to not have factored in other costs such as:

Lactation consultation sessions for when your baby is unable to latch well

Jaundice phototherapy treatments (common among Asian babies who are breastfed)

Calcium or post-natal supplements - so that we consume enough nutrients to produce nutritious breastmilk for our growing babies

All infant formulas sold in Singapore meets the nutritional needs of the children and brands should not matter

I'd rather say to go for the more affordable brands like Australia Gold or Aptamil, instead of the more expensive brands that are constantly advertised to us.

After your kid turns one years of age, you can switch them to goat or cow milk, which is still cheaper than formula milk.

Buy from Malaysia (at your own risk).

I would also like to add to our dear PM Lee that infant milk formula is not the most expensive cost for many of us parents - have you seen the costs of infantcare?! At $1000 and up a month, that is WAY more than what milk powder will cost us, and what worries us more.

Being a SAHM (stay at home mother) is also not always an option for some families, considering how the rising costs of living has made a dual-income household almost mandatory in order for most people to be able to cope. In my household, all 4 of us work (includes my in-laws, who intend to work until they hit retirement age or until no one is willing to hire them anymore) in order to keep up!

For cheaper food options

Try tracking how much your snacks and bubble tea is costing you and you'll be surprised. I realised this after tracking every one of my expenses, and found that my snacks cost almost as much as my hawker meals sometimes!

Make your own meals at home and prep them to bring to work. Even better, share with a colleague and take turns cooking!

1 comment:

a lot of things can be saved since cheaper options are usually available. Question is do you wish to live in this manner and watch out for every cts. If this is the lifestyle what one desires, then by all means go ahead. For myself, jus live within my means will suffice for now.

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You can call me Dawn, and this little space on the Internet is where I write about becoming financially-free. Join me as we learn more about savings, budgeting, paying off debts, insurance and investing together!

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Please note that all statements published on this blog are solely opinions of my own i.e. of a personal nature, and should not in any way be taken as statements of fact. Readers are encouraged to do their own research before arriving at any conclusions based solely on materials provided, or republished, on this blog.